So I used the blade that came with the razor which may be part of the problem but now I understand what the phrase razor burn means. I have other blades on the way hopefully they will be better.

But yeah the safety razor is interesting. Took me a bit to get comfortable running it at the right angle. Or what I think was right anyway. On the places I payed special attention to (particularly my moustache) I definitely got it smoother than I was able to with the gillette mach 3 ones but I only realised when I was moisturising afterwards that there's a bunch of patches in areas I was paying less attention to, because they're pretty trivial with the cassette razors, where it's not shaved properly.

I also thought I did it without cutting myself but then after i was done I noticed lots of tiny little pools of blood rising in patches around the sides of my mouth. Whoops. Also really bad razor burn all over the place and the alum block stung like hell. I now understand those old sitcom jokes where dudes scream when putting on aftershave. I mean, it wasn't nearly that bad but I get the general premise of the joke now and didn't really before.

So yeah that was mostly unpleasant as hell but I definitely see how it got a closer shave so I'll keep trying it and hopefully the blades I get in the mail will be better.